Akarigbo Oyebajo ascended the throne late in 1891, still a young man, at a time when political authority in Yorubaland was under growing pressure from expanding colonial influence. In Remo towns, governance traditionally depended on a ruler working with senior chiefs, whose offices carried weight through custom, ritual authority, and established political bargaining.
That older balance did not disappear overnight, but it began to collide with a new colonial preference, a preference for clear hierarchy, fewer competing authorities, and one recognised figure who could be held responsible for order, compliance, and the smooth running of a colonial district.
The 1892 conquest and the making of a “paramount” stool
The decisive turning point came after the British conquest of Ijebu in May 1892. In the immediate aftermath, the Awujale’s authority was weakened by the shock of defeat and the new colonial presence. This created a political opening in Ijebu Remo, where colonial officials and their local allies could elevate a central figure who fit their administrative needs.
The Lagos government began to press for the promotion of the Akarigbo stool as the paramount authority over Ijebu Remo. Officials complained that Remo had too many kings and too many coronets, and they wanted one recognised ruler rather than several rivals claiming near equal standing. For Oyebajo, this was a rare opportunity, British recognition could lift his stool above sectional heads and smaller crowns, and could transform local prestige into state backed authority.
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The 1894 agreements and the new political order
British recognition of Oyebajo’s paramountcy over Ijebu Remo was formalised in August 1894 through an agreement that established a British protectorate over the area. In the same period, another agreement was concluded in which Ikorodu and its environs were ceded to the British Crown. These were not symbolic gestures, they redrew political boundaries and clarified what the colonial state would control directly and what it would manage through recognised traditional authority.
Recognition also brought practical rewards. Oyebajo received an annual stipend, and the relationship between his office and the colonial administration deepened over time. In February 1902, he was made a member of the Central Native Council, an advisory body that connected Yoruba chieftaincy matters to colonial governance. Colonial enforcement also supported his superiority, and local challengers who attempted to elevate their own status through royal insignia met official sanctions.
When recognition changed the palace, and the chiefs resisted
As the Akarigbo stool rose in status, Oyebajo’s posture in governance changed with it. The colonial system encouraged greater personal initiative from rulers and treated them as primary decision makers, while many chiefs continued to see government as shared work, shared authority, and shared benefits.
The clash became sharper over money. Oyebajo was reluctant to divide his colonial stipend with chiefs who believed that by custom they were entitled to a portion. This dispute was not merely about cash, it was about the meaning of rule. Was the Akarigbo now a singular ruler paid for singular responsibility, or was he still first among colleagues who had a rightful claim to the rewards of governance.
Tensions hardened into open hostility. From 1904, Oyebajo caused four of his principal chiefs to be arrested and arraigned on a charge of conspiracy. They were acquitted, but the episode poisoned relationships. Over the years, distrust widened until the chiefs retaliated, and in 1911 they prosecuted Oyebajo for larceny and extortion. He was acquitted, but the experience of being detained in prison custody became a lasting political scar.
The Duncombe conflict and a growing administrative backlash
Oyebajo’s troubles deepened because he was not on friendly terms with District Commissioner H. F. Duncombe, who had ordered his detention. Although Duncombe later received a public official rebuke for overzealousness, Oyebajo’s own conduct towards him became a liability. In 1912, the colonial administration sanctioned Oyebajo by reducing his stipend for some months, a punishment that signalled displeasure and weakened his standing in a political culture where visible favour mattered.
Meanwhile, political rivalry in Sagamu intensified. By 1914, two factions had emerged. Opposed to Oyebajo were prominent titled chiefs, including Bademowo the Lisa, Awofala the Losi, Odufuwa the Oloogben, and an influential former court clerk, Oluwole. Oyebajo’s supporters included Oguntoye, Ali, Adebayo, and Amusan, men without titles whose loyalty did not carry the same institutional weight as the chiefs aligned against him.
1914 to 1915, judicial misconduct, deposition, and prison
By mid 1914, both camps traded accusations and cases. Then Oyebajo’s opponents gained an advantage by establishing allegations of judicial misconduct. He was accused of receiving bribes to influence suits brought before the newly established Native Court, where he served as president.
In 1914, Ijebu Remo became part of a new Ijebu Ode Division. It was particularly damaging for Oyebajo that his old adversary Duncombe returned to take charge of the new administrative unit. Duncombe supported the accusations against him and, in January 1915, was requested to find a replacement if he considered it advisable. Duncombe proceeded in that direction, consulting Oyebajo’s opponents, and Chief Awolesi, the Alase, was selected and approved.
Oyebajo did not accept the process. Without official notification, he assumed the selection was a manoeuvre until early May 1915, when an installation ceremony was conducted for Awolesi in Duncombe’s presence and Oyebajo was informed of his deposition. He protested, and the protest escalated into arrests. Oyebajo and three supporters were convicted for breach of peace and sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour at Ijebu Ode. Oyebajo and two others received a year each, while the fourth received six months.
September 1915 release, enforced retreat, and the death of Awolesi
Oyebajo was released in September 1915 following representations made on his behalf by T. H. Jackson of the Lagos Weekly Record. The release was tied to assurances of good conduct and an agreement that Oyebajo would retire to his farm at Igbofa, outside Sagamu, limiting his ability to mobilise political support in town.
Awolesi, however, did not enjoy good health and his reign remained contested. Factionalism continued, and by December 1915 agitation for Oyebajo’s restoration grew, especially as more chiefs became alienated by the conduct of Awofala and Oluwole. The crisis peaked when Awolesi died on 25 February 1916, after roughly nine months on the throne.
A new compromise, Adedoyin’s installation in 1916
With Awolesi dead, Oyebajo’s supporters appeared to hold the majority. Yet local British officials were opposed to restoring Oyebajo, whom they believed could not be reformed, and they were equally unwilling to accept another weak successor. Their preference shifted towards a younger man they considered more responsive to modern administrative expectations.
Oyebajo’s opponents made a calculating move. They promoted William Christopher Adedoyin, a public letter writer in his mid thirties who had once served as Oyebajo’s clerk. The choice matched colonial preferences and undermined the pro Oyebajo camp by proposing a candidate drawn from within it. After pressure and negotiation, Adedoyin was installed as Akarigbo in September 1916.
Oyebajo was allowed to return to Sagamu in the spirit of reconciliation, but he felt humiliated that the paramount chieftaincy had passed to a man he considered junior in rank.
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From political return to Calabar exile, 1921 to 1932
Over time, Oyebajo’s presence again troubled local authorities. Colonial officials grew alarmed when he claimed association with Herbert Macaulay, an early nationalist figure disliked by colonial administrators. In March 1921, Oyebajo and six supporters were arrested and convicted for conspiracy. The government approved deportation, and in May 1921 Oyebajo, Oguntoye, and Ali were exiled to Calabar.
Exile proved devastating. Oguntoye died three months after arrival, on 6 August 1921. Ali died the following year, in 1922, after appeals for clemency failed. Oyebajo’s health deteriorated over the years, and repeated pleas were declined until one more appeal in May 1932 was granted on health grounds, supported locally in Calabar.
Oyebajo returned to Sagamu on 23 June 1932. About three weeks later, on 11 July 1932, he died, a man whose political life had been shaped, expanded, and ultimately crushed by the same colonial structure that once elevated his stool.
Author’s Note
Oyebajo’s story shows how recognition can look like victory, yet quietly plant the seeds of collapse, because power that rises through external backing often collides with the older internal agreements that keep a community steady. His reign became a lesson Remo could not forget, authority without consensus turns the palace into a courtroom, and a crown defended by force can still end in exile, silence, and a final homecoming that comes too late.
References
Tunde Oduwobi, “Deposed Rulers under the Colonial Regime in Nigeria, The Careers of Akarigbo Oyebajo and Awujale Adenuga”, Cahiers d’Études africaines, 2003.
Tunde Oduwobi, Ijebu Under Colonial Rule, 1892 to 1960, An Administrative and Political Analysis, 2004.
Insa Nolte, Obafemi Awolowo and the Making of Remo, The Local Politics of a Nigerian Nationalist, 2009.
